Fun Facts about the Shasta Cascade!

The Shasta Cascade Region is made up of eight counties in northeastern California and is collectively known as UpStateCA. This name helps distinguish the area as the northernmost part of the state, while also giving visitors a clearer sense of its unique character—one that stands in contrast to California’s well-known southern beaches. Make a trip and see for yourself the beauty of the mountians, rivers, and lakes all throughout the region.

California’s first suspension bridge, constructed in 1856, is at the south end of Lake Oroville in Bidwell Canyon Recreation Area.

Bidwell Park in Chico (3,618 acres/1,464 hec) is the third-largest municipal park in California and among the 25 largest city parks in the U.S.A.

When the Red River Lumber Company moved to Westwood, California in 1913, it brought its advertising character, Paul Bunyan, with it. And so, Westwood claims title as the legitimate home of Paul Bunyan. A gigantic statue of the folkloric woodsman is seen in Westwood. Paul Bunyan was created for the Red River Lumber Company in 1910 by journalist James MacGillivray.

Lassen Volcanic National Park is the only place on Earth where all four types of Volcano can be seen.

Goose Lake is so vast that in 1850, according to local folklore, a group of emigrants mistook it for the Pacific Ocean.

The Pit River is the largest river in northeastern California.

Beckwourth Pass, the lowest pass that crosses the Sierra Nevada, is named after legendary African-American mountain man, James Beckwourth, who discovered it in 1850, four years after the Donner Party’s unfortunate winter crossing.

The Keddie Wye on the Feather River is considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Railroad World, among railfans for its scenic convergence of tracks, tunnels and trestles.

The Sundial Bridge is one of the world’s largest working sundials. At a cost of $23 million, the Sundial Bridge tells time by the shadow cast by the bridge's spire (gnomon) and is a pedestrian bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava. Mr. Calatrava decided to make this bridge a working sundial when we saw that the river runs eastwest at this section and the bridge would be built in a north/south direction making it deal for a beautiful timepiece to be used by all. 

The Sacramento River, from Shasta Dam through the City of Redding is considered by fishing experts to be the world’s third best tail water (water coming from a dam).

Shasta Lake holds the title “houseboat capital of the world,” because it has the most houseboats on any single body of water.

Shasta Dam is the second largest dam in the United States. Free daily tours of its interior are offered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Siskiyou County holds one of California’s most dramatic and little-known chapters of history. During the Modoc War, a small group of just 57 Modoc warriors took a stand in the rugged lava beds of the region. For six months, they held off a force of more than 1,000 U.S. soldiers, using the natural terrain to their advantage in a remarkable display of strategy and resilience.

In a moment that stunned the nation, the conflict led to the death of Edward Canby—a respected Civil War hero from the Battle of Glorieta Pass. Today, this powerful story remains part of Siskiyou County’s identity, offering visitors a deeper connection to the land and the people who shaped its past.

The largest population of bald eagles in the lower 48 states winter at the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges.

The gothic vaulted interior of an authentic 800-year-old monastery chapter house (meeting room) at the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina. Scholars consider it to be the finest pure example of Cistercian gothic architecture in the Western Hemisphere. It was dismantled and brought to California by famed newspaperman, William Randolph Hearst. He had planned to reconstruct it as the vestibule to one of his grand homes.

Ishi, the last surviving Yahi Indian who is considered to be the last primitive Native American to have contacted western civilization, emerged from the wilderness near Lassen Volcanic National Park in 1911.

Bigfoot has been sighted so many times in Trinity County that a Bigfoot Museum exists in Willow Creek.

According to the late historian Jake Jackson, gold was first discovered in the Shasta Cascade prior to James Marshall’s famous 1848 discovery that set off the California Gold Rush.